


One Good Scare

by Nobody13XIII



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Epic Fail, Joke's on you, M/M, happy halloween!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-29 04:21:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5115572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nobody13XIII/pseuds/Nobody13XIII
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nico scared our Hero of Olympus to death last Halloween, and this year Percy is more determined than ever to find a way to scare his Ghost King into submission, but of course the Fates are never on his side, and Halloween makes up its own tricks and treats. Happy Halloween 2015!</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Good Scare

**Disclaimer, I don't own any of the characters mentioned**

* * *

**My First Attempt Goes Up In Flames (And Fur)**

"So why are we doing this again?" Leo asked, automaton armor clanking.

Frank gave a huff, trying to keep up.

"Because Percy's trying to get even with Nico for scaring him last year, try and keep up firebug. Now, should I be a drakon or do you think a manticore would be better?"

"Manticore, those remind him of his old school." I murmured, glancing around distractedly.

Last Halloween, my oh so loving boyfriend had scared me to death, literally. One trip to the underworld, three two headed goats, and a bearded gorgons kidney later, I had managed not to throttle him or beat him with a bag of Wonder Bread, instead swearing vengeance next year. And so now here I was, about to scare the living daylights out of Nico.

Neeks was currently still asleep in my cabin, curled up with one of my old shirts. He had looked so adorable and peaceful when I left. Which is why I had dashed out as fast as I could and grabbed Frank and Leo, dragging them along before he woke up. Nothing terrified a demigod like waking up to a monster attack. This was going to be my best Halloween yet.

"Alright, here's the plan; I run in screaming how monsters have broken through the barrier, you two go do your ambush thing, he freaks out, and I finally win. Any questions?"

Frank and Leo exchanged glances.

"What?"

"Percy" Frank began "Speaking from the experience of two guys dating a daughter of the death god, we really don't think it's a good idea. I mean they've lived in the Underworld, Hades, you're boyfriend went through Tartarus. I really don't think this the best idea, and besides, he's Nico. I don't even know if it's possible to scare him."

Leo and Frank stayed silent, letting the information sink in while I glared over at them.

"Don't back out on me now guys, this is gonna be perfect, trust me, okay?"

The boys gave me a hesitant nod, before following me to the cabin. Frank shifted, appearance melting into the likeness of a manticore, hair bristling, tail thrashing, fangs bared and dripping.

"Seriously Frankie? We're supposed to scare him, not remind him of one of those cuddly little teddy bears you get on Valentine's Day."

Frank the manticore frowned, his mouthful of dagger-like teeth contorting strangely.

"What do you mean? This totally freaked out those freaks we took down last week at the monster truck rally. If anything will work on Nico, it'll be this. At the very least it's better than that scrap suit you're wearing."

"What are you calling scrap? This is a highly advanced automaton suit, dad gave me the designs and everything!"

"Have you ever even seen an automaton?"

"No, but-"

"See, that's why you look ridiculous, it's like a refrigerator and a car had an ugly love child and you're wearing its remains. I'll just have to do all the work as usual, and-"

"All the work? You couldn't scare a toddler looking like that, don't you tell me-"

"Girls, girls, you're both terrifying!" I interrupted, rounding up on them "Can we please focus for one more second, just until I scare Nico? Okay? Please?"

Leo and Frank nodded grudgingly.

"Thank you. Let's get this started." I smiled encouragingly, drawing Riptide. "Showtime!" I whispered, and made my way towards the cabin. I was almost to the door when they started bickering again.

"… That over glorified toaster is not remotely scary. Probably couldn't even fight."

"I could take down a whole army with one hand bolted behind my back, thank you very much! And do you really want to bring up fighting when you're all flabby again. When was the last time you hit the gym?"

"It's not flab, I'm big boned! I can pick you and Hazel up with one arm and still lift a good hundred pounds, and considering how much weight you've put on recently, that's really saying something."

"Guys!" I tried, sheathing Riptide.

"Are you calling me  _fat!?_ " Leo demanded.

Flames leaked out of the metal suit, a red glow discoloring the armor as smoke started seeping out of the cracks.

"And what if I am? What're you going to do about it?" Frank goaded.

A torrent of angry Spanish exploded from the automaton armor, and Leo tackled Frank the manticore.

"Guys wait, stop!"

The two of them rolled around on the ground, the manticore angrily clawing away at the flaming armor, the air thick with smoke and the smell of burning hair. Leo briefly managed to get on top, clumsily pounding away at the manticore, flames bursting away, only for Frank to kick him away with his powerful new hind legs, before pouncing after him, the two quickly rolling down the hill.

"Guys!" I called desperately.

This was definitely not part of the plan. The door behind me opened up, and I whirled around to see Nico, now wearing my old shirt and tiredly rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Oh. Wey Nico!" I said, hurriedly pocketing Riptide and glancing around.

Frank and Leo were gone, the only evidence they were even here being the scorched earth and the scratch marks.

"Morning Perce" Nico mumbled sleepily "You weren't there when I woke up" He complained, giving me an innocent glare.

I'm pretty sure a piece of me died right there. Nico was only like this cute and mellow whenever we were alone, letting down all his walls and letting me in. He was still the same moody, gloomy, brooding death breath most everybody knew, but I knew his secret now. I had seen all of Nico's sides, and that just made me love him more.

But now that he was awake, it was going to be a whole lot harder to scare him. I tried to shrug nonchalantly.

"Sorry about that Neeks, I was taking care of some stuff for Halloween."

Nico nodded, before a playful grin crept onto his lips. "You weren't planning on scaring me, were you Perseus?"

"What? No, never!"

Nico rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, still smiling.

"Uh-huh, sure. Good luck with that seaweed brain. But you can't do it. You wanna know why?"

I hesitated before slowly nodding. Nico reached up and wrapped his arms around my neck, leaning on tip toe to bring our faces closer.

"You really want to know?" He breathed, nuzzling up against my cheek.

I pulled him close, arms ensnaring him, nodding slowly. Nico's nose trailed across my cheek, the contact sending sparks through my skin, his lips coming dangerously close to mine. A sudden glint of mischief flickered in those dark eyes of his.

"Because you're you Percy, and you could never be scary. You're the hero."

Nico nipped my lower lip playfully, leaning in to kiss me, before suddenly vanishing. I stumbled forward, before regaining my balance and glaring over at my bed where Nico sat, smiling coyly at me.

"You are  _so_  lucky I love you." I warned.

Nico laughed, grabbing me and dragging me down beside him, cuddling up against me.

"Yeah, yeah I am." He said with a cocky smirk, leaning up and finally kissing me.

This was so not over.

**A Pointless Not-So-Natural Disaster**

After breakfast, I decided it was time for plan B. When Nico said he was going back to his cabin to get some work done, I eagerly sent him off, and then went racing to find Jason. I was lucky, with his frequent trips between camps I had been worried I would miss him.

But thankfully, he was staying this week to do Halloween with Piper and Leo. I raced to Zeus' cabin and threw open the doors saying "Jason, I need your…"

I stared at Jason for a few seconds, before bursting into laughter. Jason frowned, adjusting his glasses and glanced down at himself.

"Oh come on Percy, it's for Halloween."

Jason was Superman. Or at least he was trying to be. He was wearing the skin tight suit, probably an attempt by Piper to show off her man, the design somewhere between the classic and the new Superman, if Superman had been blonde. If it hadn't been for the fact that he looked more like a goofy Clark Kent in a blue leotard, the effect would have been fantastic

"I'm sorry dude, really." I lied, trying to stop smiling.

Jason gave me an unconvinced look over the brim his glasses.

"What do you want Jackson?"

"I need your help. My plan with Frank and Leo fell apart, so it's time for plan B."

"You're still on your whole 'get revenge on Nico' thing huh? You do know it's not gonna happen right?"

My death glare must have needed work, Jason didn't even quiver as I bored holes through his head. Finally he heaved a sigh, sitting on his bunk and patting the space beside him. I eagerly sat down, smile growing back instantly.

"Whatever, it's not my funeral. Speaking of which though, if Nico kills me for helping you, I am so coming back from the dead to throttle you."

"Glad to hear you've joined the team!"

Jason flashed a mischievous smirk back.

"Might as well die laughing. So how are we gonna scare the high and mighty king of ghosts?"

"You and I are gonna cook up a little storm."

After explaining the finer points of the plan to him, I waited outside the cabin while Jason changed, guilt now starting to gnaw at me. This was a low blow for victory. Nico hated storms. Whenever they came, Nico either raged with them, screaming angrily with every boom of thunder, or sobbed and hid with every flash of lightning.

After regaining his childhood memories, especially those of his mother's death, he had started having fits whenever a storm started. During these, he would go to one of the previously mentioned paths, both of which inevitably ended up with him in my bed, the prior usually with a very dominant, aggressive Nico, the latter an adorable, cuddly Nico. The last few times bad been all rage, so we were due for some fear. But did I really want to stoop this low, to potentially hurt the boy I loved so much?

"You ready?" Jason asked, now in normal, non-hysterical looking clothing.

I let my heart do the talking.

"Definitely. Nico will totally freak out!"

Wait what? Must be a broken translator in there. Jason and I stealthily made our way over to Nico's cabin. I've learned a lot of fun facts about children of Hades, including a few little things that make it really hard to surprise them; for example the fact that they can tell when someone's hiding in the shadows. It makes it extremely hard to sneak around or sneak up them. We stopped a few yards away, hiding as inconspicuously as we could in the bright sunshine.

"Chiron's gonna kill us for this." Jason warned, trying to act serious.

In all honesty though, we both knew he was just as excited to be doing this as I was. I wasn't the only one Nico had pranked and horrified last Halloween.

"You wanna back out? Last chance."

Jason just rolled his eyes, and the wind suddenly started picking up, clouds forming in a previously blue sky. I started focusing as well, and the temperature plummeted, a delicate layer of frost starting to creep out from me. Rain started, slow and weak at first, only to turn into a full on storm, gale force winds blasting hailstones past us.

Campers around took cover, screaming about crazy sons of Jupiter and Poseidon. The ground started to shake, and thunder boomed as the clouds darkened. The air filled with the tang of ozone, and lighting snaked across the sky. The dark shutters of the Hades cabin glammed open and close, hail battering down on the roof and against the windows.

Jason and I worked well together, keeping the storm centered on the cabin instead of the entire camp. Yeah, Chiron would probably pitch a fit later, but this was for the greater good. Kind of. Not really.

I frowned, glancing over at Jason. We were entirely safe right here, our powers creating a protective bubble as we laid siege to the cabin. But Nico didn't' storm out or run screaming. Nothing was happening at all actually.

"Hey Jason!" I screamed through the storm.

"What?" He shouted back.

"Something's wrong, we need to stop, it's not working!"

"What?"

Stupid storm. I could barely even hear myself think, the wind was ripping away our words, bending and distorting what managed to survive long enough to be heard.

"I think we should let it up, it's not working!" I yelled, shouting as hard as I could to be clear through the howling wind.

"Turn it up? If you say so!"

There was a cacophony of thunder, and the sky was lit up in explosions of lightning, some bolts striking too close for comfort.

"No, Jason stop!" I shouted, waving my arms.

Jason didn't notice, he still had his eyes clenched shut in concentration. Well this was just perfect. I let go of my half of the storm and sent a blast of water at Jason. Our tempest instantly faded as Jason stumbled back, soaked and spluttering.

"What was that for?" He demanded.

"Something's up." I explained, advancing towards the door.

While the outside of the cabin was a now an absolute mess, the inside was in the exact state it had been in the last time I was here; messy, dusty, and utterly empty. I was used to the first two, Nico practically lived at my cabin now, only coming back to his own for work or if we wanted a change of scenery. But the cabin was deserted now. Nico wasn't here.

"Did we seriously just do all that work just to find out he's not here?" Jason complained, trying to dry off his glasses.

I frowned, trying to look around the cabin, half hoping to see Nico curled up underneath the bed, only to notice a note pinned to the wall. I snatched it off, the message simply saying

" _Gone out for Chiron, should be back soon, sorry for not saying goodbye, promise I'll make it up to you tonight XOXO."_

"XOXO?" Jason asked, peering over my shoulder "Are we sure Nico hasn't been replaced and we're dealing with some alien imposter?"

I let out a huff and pocketed the note, sighing and collapsing down on Nico's bed. While that last part of the note sounded very appealing, I had just failed. Again.

"I tried to warn you Percy. You just can't win this fight."

"I can do this. Annabeth said she had an idea, I should have just gone to her in the first place. I'll just have to wing it and hope I can get her to help me set it up in time."

Jason nodded and we started for the door.

"Yeah well good luck with that, you're going to need it. Anyways, I have to get going, Piper wanted my help with a prank."

"Oh I don't think you two will be going anywhere just yet." An unpleasantly familiar voice said.

Jason and I froze, slowly turning around. One of my least favorite gods, Hades, was seated in the corner on a throne of bones that had spontaneously materialized. He smiled serenely, the kind of smile a shark has before it eats you alive. The door Jason had left open slammed shut behind us.

"Oh, um, hello lord Hades." Jason said (I thanked the gods he had gotten over his habit of calling our gods by their Roman names; they did not appreciate it, and I doubted Hades would either).

Hades ignored Jason, his dark eyes fixed on me. "Perseus, how have you been? It's been ages since our last little chat."

Our last chat had been when Poseidon insisted I meet with my uncle and ask him for permission to court Nico, because no one wanted to give Hades an excuse to damn my soul to the deepest darkest pits of Tartarus for all eternity. Hades had been in a surprisingly good mood that day, all I got was a halfhearted death threat and a sneer, before getting thrown in the dungeon, once again, for a week while Hades tried to come up with a way to convince Nico I had died.

"I've been great. Staying out of dungeons and cemeteries. Any reason we can't go? Cause you promised Nico last time that you wouldn't try and kill me any-"

Hades dropped the smiled and I stopped talking.

"Yes, yes, there is the little matter of that oath. However, unfortunate as it is, I am not here about that. I am here about the little matter of you two vandalizing this sacred underworld space in what I can only assume is a pathetic excuse to frighten my son."

"Well, yeah, but really it's kind of a funny-"

"Normally I would have you flayed and impaled out in an open courtyard as a warning to others, but I have a feeling your dearly devoted fathers would rather disagree with that, and I'm not in the mood for the headache they'd give me. And besides, it's Halloween, scares, pathetic as they are, should be expected. And as it so happens, I am in a good, forgiving mood."

Funny, that's almost exactly what he said the last time before he threw me into prison and tried to murder me. Did I mention that it wasn't the first time he had done that?

"Lord Hades, I'm really sorry about this, we'll make it up to you, I-"

"Oh yes, you will indeed. I am anything, if not a reasonable god, so I am quite certain we can work this out. I will give you a choice. You can either give devote all you sacrifices for the next month to me, construct an altar for my fallen children and my honor- designed to my specifications of course- and repair this hallowed abode. Or, we can go back to the flaying and impalement. Your choice."

He smiled a crooked smile, leaning back into the shadows. Jason turned back to me, glaring emptily.

"Well take the month deal." I said quickly.

Hades sighed, leaning further back into his throne. "You demigods never chose the fun options." He muttered.

Jason was still glaring at me.

"Now Jace, I know this is kind of bad, but-"

"It's fine Percy." He interrupted "And now, I don't think I'm going to wait for Nico to kill me."

"You're not? Oh good, cause I'm going to need a lot of help with fixing up the cabin and building that altar thing. And if you're still open later, you could come back and help scare Nico."

Jason shook his head.

"No Percy. I meant I'm not going to wait for Nico to kill me before I come back and THROTTLE YOU!"

Jason tackled me to the ground, the two of us rolling around on the floor while Hades smiled down at us.

"I suppose sometimes it really is fun to have family." He mused, summoning up a pomegranate and pulling up a foot stool, enjoying the show.

**Our Trap Works A Little Too Well**

After spending most of the morning trading off between trying to repair the Hades cabin going to the infirmary, I managed to make my way over to the Athena cabin. Annabeth was waiting on the front steps, furiously typing away on her laptop.

"Hey Perce." She said cheerfully as I walked up.

I grunted in exhaustion, falling down on the grass beside her.

"Day not going to well?" She asked sympathetically.

"Frank and Leo failed, Nico busted me, and then he was gone while Jason and I made that big storm, I basically sold a month of my life to my sociopathic uncle, and Jason broke my nose."

"It looks fine to me."

"I got it fixed. Jason got his fixed to. And a few of his teeth."

"Percy, Percy, Percy, what am I going to do with you? What did your mother say about picking on poor defenseless demigods?"

"But he started it!" I whined.

Annabeth burst into laughter.

"Well, not to say I told you so, but…"

"But you told me so. Yeah, I know." I sighed in defeat.

I really need to listen to her more. Listening to my Wise Girl had been one of the only things keeping me alive since I first realized I was a demigod. You'd think by now I'd realize that eleven times out of ten, she was right. And when I had been going over my plans with her the other day, Annabeth had predicted that they were all going to fail, instead offering her own plan. Why hadn't I just been smart and gone with her plan?

"Don't worry seaweed brain, I knew you'd come crawling back eventually, so I took the liberty of setting everything up earlier."

"Have I ever told you I loved you?"

Annabeth laughed again, setting the laptop back in the cabin and grabbing her travel bag before stepping back outside, ruffling my hair.

"Maybe once or twice. You could bare to say it a little more often."

I was glad things had worked out between us. Tartarus had pushed us past our breaking points, and later on we just couldn't be together anymore, it was just too painful. Our breakup happened just before Nico came out to me, intending on leaving since he hadn't known that Annabeth and I had split. Of course the months after that had been a little rough between us, especially since everybody wanted me to be with her, but everything had turned our just fine.

Now two and a half years later I was happily dating the boy of my dreams (and a few nightmares), and was still best friends with Annabeth, who was actually with Reyna now, after a brief thing with an experimental Piper led her to boldly asking the Roman out. Go figure right?

Annabeth led the way over to the Big House, going on about her latest project; New Greece. Chiron wasn't as enthusiastic about the idea as she was, bringing up  _trivial_ matters, like the fact that we didn't have enough money to build a fourth of it, let alone even start construction.

"But since I figured you'd be coming back, I managed to get Leo and Lou Ellen to help me finish this little pet project."

We climbed up the Big House steps, and Annabeth stopped.

"Ta da!" She said proudly.

I looked around in confusion. Annabeth's plan had been to design a haunted house fit to frighten a son of Hades who had been through Tartarus and back. When she last showed me, it had three floors, was spread over two acres, contained over nine hundred and thirteen traps, secret rooms, and trap doors, seventy illusions, monsters, and tricks, and a single entrance, which coincidentally, was also its only exit. But there was no way Chiron would have let her convert the Big House into this.

Besides, there wasn't enough room for it to begin with. Annabeth seemed to recognize the signs of my oncoming stupid questions, and politely coughed, nodding towards the door. I glanced over at it, only now seeing that where there had once been a quaint patio screen door, there was now a slab of pitch black metal, cracked and bound in chains, strange arcane symbols glowing eerily on its surface.

"Whoa, how did I not see that?"

Annabeth shrugged, walking over to her creation. "Chameleon tech, one of Daedalus' designs. Unless it's pointed out to you, you'll never see it. I warned the other campers to stay away. It was actually pretty easy, I just made up a little fib about Dionysus turning some poor camper into a dolphin, and suddenly nobody wants to go to the Big House. Now all you need to do is get Nico to touch the handle."

"Touch the handle?"

"It's enchanted. The doors just there for the mechanics and the symbolism, I had to pull the old one out and put this one in for the day. Once Nico touches the handle, he'll be sent to the heart of the maze. The whole thing is constructed from the Mist to, so there's no way he can just shadow travel away either."

"This has to work, right? I'm starting to lose faith here, it's like every time I try, everything that can possibly go wrong, goes wrong."

"Don't worry, we'll have him sweating out cold terrors in no time. Especially after that whole spider fiasco last year."

Like I said, I was definitely not the only victim of Nico's pranks.

"I have to say, it really fits the whole Halloween thing, it looks freaky. So I'll just tell him Chiron wanted to see us, walk up here, get him to open the door, and bam! He's sent right to the middle of the haunted house, he gets scared, I win, and then we make out and get lots of candy. Annie, you're a genius, this just might work!"

Annabeth nodded proudly. "What else did you expect? You can thank me later. Oh, and by the way, I found that special blue food dye you lost last week."

Annabeth reached into her bag, only to recoil, frowning and peering into her travel bag. The next few series of events were beyond unfortunate. Annabeth screeched, dropping the bag, from which a very large, very hairy tarantula quickly escaped from. Annabeth jumped back as it came towards her, knocking into me. I fell back, and grabbed the first thing I could to stop my descent.

Yep, that's right folks, I grabbed the doorknob. I had a split second to reflect on how screwed up my life was and wonder why the Fates hated me so much, before the world turned dark and empty.

"Di immortales." I groaned.

"You touched the handle didn't you?" Annabeth asked, hidden in the icy darkness.

"Yep." I said, defeated.

At least I wasn't stuck in here alone. In the emptiness, I felt Annabeth move, using me to help herself sit up.

"It's alright, we can work with this, we don't have to panic. Right now, we're in the heart of the maze, and we have roughly ten more seconds before everything starts up. First up is the fire explosions, so once the lights kick on, we run like hell towards the left passage and keep going. I know this place inside and out, we'll get out in no time, and get everything sorted out and taken care of."

No time apparently translated into three hours. Five seconds later, after a huge explosion of flames and fiery demons, we had run for the left passage like Annabeth had told us to, taking the route that was sure to get us out of here.

The one problem? Our left, according to the plans Annabeth had so carefully conceived, was actually right. By the time we realized our mistake, we were already being chased by a horde of starving zombie Minotaurs over a moat of leech infested lava.

Would our trap have worked to scare Nico? I have no clue. Did it scare a son of Poseidon and a daughter of Athena who had also been through hell and back? Oh yeah, yeah it did. I'm not really sure how it finally happened, but I do remember that after an intense PTSD like flashback, a demigod level hurricane and an explosion of ice had blasted through the darkness. The next thing I knew, there was light once again.

Annabeth and I flew through the air, coming back to earth in one of our more graceful landings, finally rolling to a stop a after a few feet. Breathing hard, the two of us pushed ourselves up, staring around wide eyed. We were both shaking and terrified, pulses racing about ten thousand times a second.

There was a loud, metallic groan from behind us, and we whirled around. The door symbols were flashing ominously, and icy mist was creeping of surface. The top hinge of the door cracked off, chains started snapping, and the door imploded before our eyes, collapsing in on itself until all that was left of the horror, was the handle.

Mr. D walked by the now gaping hole, giving us a disinterested glancing, before looking longingly at the wine bottle in his hand.

"They don't pay me enough for this." He muttered, carrying on with whatever he had been doing to begin with.

Footsteps sounded behind us, and we glanced back to see Piper and Jason running over.

"Oh my gosh are you guys alright?" Piper started examining us, lifting limbs, checking for breaks and bruises.

"We saw you guys vanish, we didn't know what happened." Jason explained.

I just nodded, collapsing onto the ground. My heart wasn't trying to rip itself out of my chest anymore, that was a good sign right? At the rate this was going, I was going to get myself killed before Nico even realized I had already tried and failed multiple times to scare him.

"I didn't think you'd grab the handle, I'm really sorry! I mean it was Halloween, I was just trying to have some-"

Jason shot Piper a warning look as she blubbered on, but our eyes snapped over to her. This time I was pretty sure our death glares worked, Piper took a step back, gulping loudly.

"What are you talking about?" Annabeth asked "Because if you're planning on telling me you put a tarantula into my bag…" Annabeth just shook her head, letting the possibilities sink in. You didn't want to get on the bad side of an Athena kid. Even Connor and Travis weren't dumb enough to do that. Most of the time anyways.

"It was an accident." Jason said, trying to get in between the two girls and play mediator.

Annabeth started to advance towards Piper, muttering about spiders, webs, and destroying a daughter of Aphrodite.

"Percy, little help here?" Jason asked, trying to back Piper into safety.

"Let it go Annabeth" I sighed, falling back "We'll get them back later."

Annabeth burned one more hole through Jason and Piper before stalking back over to me and sitting down.

"Sorry Perce, I'm out of ideas, you'll have to try something else."

Jason and Piper cautiously walked back over, giving Annabeth a wide berth.

"I just wanted to scare Nico, just a little. Is that really too much to ask for?"

"Wait, you're trying to scare Nico?" Piper asked, taking another step forward.

I nodded, and Piper smiled. "Maybe I can make this up to you guys. I've been wanting to take a swing at that kid for a while now, and I think Hazel and I can help you. Trust me, you'll love this plan"

I sat up, hope slowly starting to come back.

"Don't do it Percy" Jason warned "It's not worth it. Just enjoy Halloween and admit you can't do it."

I looked over to Annabeth. She studied me for a long second before shrugging.

"It's up to you."

I stood up, glancing down at my watch. Already six o'clock, the sun would be setting soon.

"Nico's not back yet?"

Jason and Piper shook their heads.

"Alright, let's go find out this plan I'm going to love."

**The Nico Invasion Overload**

"I hate this plan."

"Trust us this will work. I know my cousin, when he comes back and sees everything, he'll be terrified. All we need is for you to play your part." Hazel said, trying to coerce me to come back to her.

"Besides" Piper said with a smirk "I'm pretty sure this is one of those perverted fantasies of yours."

"Yeah, but that's different. This though, this is crazy, and not the good kind of crazy."

"Oh don't be such a drama queen Percy. Do you want to scare Nico or not?"

"Well…" I wasn't that sure anymore. Defeat might not sound good, but who cares about defeat when I could be spending the night out with my boyfriend, cuddling, making out, having fun and getting all the candy I could get my hands on?

"Of course he does." Hazel answered for me, grabbing me and taking me back to the main pavilion. Most of the campers were already there, costumed and laughing, the Halloween feast already in full swing.

"You're sure this will work?" I asked, glancing around.

Chiron had said that Neeks should be back soon, if we did this, it had to work, there wouldn't be time for any other plans or schemes.

"Positive. You know what to do, just play crowd control, and don't start drooling. Nico will be back soon, and then the rest will just work itself out."

I sighed, and pulling out a pair of ear plugs that the girls had given me and blocking off my ears. Piper spoke in front of me, testing to make sure I couldn't hear anything, and I gave a thumbs up. Piper gave one back, before testing Hazel out too. Hazel gave anther thumbs up, and Piper turned to the crowd.

We watched as she stared shouting, and the campers looked over. After a few seconds, the whole camps was staring over at us, full attention centered on Piper as she started issuing instructions. Hazel took a deep breath and closed her eyes. There was an explosion of Mist in the pavilion, engulfing everything and everyone.

When it finally faded, a crowd of Nico's were standing there, all staring hypnotized at Piper. The girls plan was… complexly simple. Hazel would change everyone's outward appearance to look like Nico, and Piper would CharmSpeak everyone into acting and believing that they were Nico. My job was just to stand there in the middle and make sure everybody played nice, so that when Nico got back, he wouldn't be sure who the real one was, whether or not he was the real Nico, and why I was flirting with other people.

Yeah, it wasn't the best plan, there were a lot of holes. But Hazel knew her cousin, and she said this would scare the pants off him. Might as well risk it. Piper motioned for us to take our headphones, smiling proudly.

"There you are, an army of Nico's. They'll act just like the real thing, and they all think they're the real deal, so Percy, it's up to you to get in there and keep them guessing. I'll go check around to see when the real Nico will be back, keep it up Hazel!"

And then we split up, Hazel staying to keep the illusion up, Piper running off to search for my Nico, and me running into the crowd of my boyfriend's doppelgängers. Piper had been wrong when she had said this would be one of my fantasies. One Nico was a challenge enough to deal with sometimes, let alone a whole crowd. Although sometimes I wouldn't mind just having two or three around to have a little fun.

The Nico's were all confused, trying to figure out what was going on. All eyes turned to me as I rushed in, all listening to me as I talked, making up some story about the gods cursing everyone to be Nico Di Angelo, and how I need to find the right one. At first everything had started pretty well actually. All the Nico's listened to me, trying to help figure out what was real and what wasn't.

I stood in front of a very long line where they came up to me, giving off details about themselves, and how they were sure they were the real Nico. I just nodded, promising I believed them, and sent them off to the side, going to the next. Like I said, for the first five minutes, this worked out great. And then one of them professed their love to me and tried to kiss me.

Have I ever mentioned that Nico is extremely possessive and jealous, especially when it comes to me? No? Well he is. I think it stems from his fatal flaw and all the crap I put him through, because he doesn't even like it when Annabeth and I, or even Jason and I hug. Honestly it's just another cute part of him, it was just something I found adorable.

And then I realized that the reason why he got that way was because I had pushed him away and ignored him for so long. Then it hadn't been so cute. My poor Neeks… but right now, it was more like Nico's poor Percy. After this Nico tried to kiss me, that famous jealous streak suddenly flared to life in every single Nico around.

The others shouted, quickly converging, trying to push him away, while at the same time trying to express their own love for me. In no time I was at the bottom of a Nico dogpile. Yep, should have seen this coming. I managed to wiggle free, and stood up surveying the chaos. Weapons flashed in the firelight as the mob of Nico's fought, battle cries and screams living and dying every second.

I could see Hazel in the distance, could see her focusing, struggling probably to take down the illusion. Unfortunately the combination of Mist and CharmSpeak seemed to be a little too potent. Everyone was so sure that they were the real deal, that didn't seem to be changing back. I saw some of the camp stragglers showing up, staring in shock as the fights continued, small explosions of Mist, shadow, with the occasional ghost or skeleton popping up.

"Stop it!" I shouted, waving my arms and trying to get their attention.

A pair of Nico's ran over to me, shouting in unison "Stay back Percy, I don't want you to get hurt while I take care of these idiots!"

Di immortales.

"That's enough!" I roared, screaming at the top of my lungs.

Around me the chaos slowly stopped, all eyes turning to me.

"I have been trying all day to scare my damn boyfriend! I have put up with a squabbling automaton and manticore, I have been throttled by a son of Jupiter, I practically sold my soul to an uncle who wants me dead, I just went through a hell maze and back, and I am not dealing with all of you. None of you are the real Nico, because my Nico wouldn't be stupid enough to fall for any of this!"

The Nico's slowly faded away, turning back into their real forms. The campers were all looking around in guilty confusion, while I heaved and panted, still angry.

"I'm done with this, I'm heading to bed. You don't want to drown, stay away!" I barked, stomping off angrily. The sprinklers around the lawn exploded, geysers spurting up wildly, my anger and irritation spreading to the cabin plumbing and blowing up the toilets; again.

Far away up on the roof of the Big House, a small, lithe figure with dark eyes watched the son of Poseidon stomp angrily away to his cabin.

"He's so hot when he's angry." Nico murmured dreamily, staring after the lone figure. "So you really were trying to scare me all day, were you seaweed brain? My poor hero, the guy must be all tense from the stress." He smirked after Percy, eyes glowing darkly with mischief, pulling out a blue lollipop. "It'd be a shame not to repay all that effort and devotion. Guess it's time to give my Sea Prince a little Halloween treat."

**Tricking the Trickster Part 1**

I collapsed into my bed, groaning as my sore muscles griping as I stretched out, burrowing my head under a pillow. Today had been a disaster. I hadn't scared Nico, most of my plans had painfully backfired, and on top of it, I had only seen my boyfriend for those few hours this morning. And now the day was wasted, and judging by how tired I felt, I wouldn't be getting up till Friday of next week.

My arm curled unintentionally around my other pillow, pulling it to my chest. I missed Nico. I let out a huff, squeezing the pillow. From now on I'll just deal with the fact that I'm not scary and happily hang out with everybody, without the greater risk of physical, or emotional, trauma.

Something scraped across the floor near the door. I glanced up, trying to see from the dim light the fountain in the corner produced. There was nothing there. I flopped back onto bed, starting to relax again. A strange scuttling sound raced across the roof.

"Stupid squirrels." I muttered, vowing to hunt them down later.

More scuttling ensued, growing louder and louder, until I was sure that there must be a whole horde of squirrels trampling my roof. And then just as quickly as it had started, it stopped. I sighed in relief, slowly relaxing again. I was almost to sleep, when the other bunk in the cabin creaked.

I frowned glancing over at it. Nothing. I put my head down, only for the creak to come again. I snapped up, glaring over at the bed. I was too tired to care about any of this. I threw a pillow over my head, and tried to block out the noises. The creaking came again. When I didn't look up, there was a louder creak, as though something had come off the bunk and was stepping onto the floor.

I didn't look up. Another creak, as though someone or something was slowly moving. I still didn't look up. More creaks sounded, getting louder and closer each time. Then it was right beside my bed. An ice cold chill trailed down the nape of my neck, and my battle instincts kicked in. Almost faster than I could comprehend, I had snatched Riptide out of my pocket, the blade a bronze blur, swiping a wide circle around me. I didn't hit anything. I frowned, glancing around. Stupid nerves, after that horrible haunted house earlier my PTSD was starting to kick my trash. Maybe I should head to the infirmary later, see if I could get some meds.

I was lying down again, when I realized that the light had changed. The previously white, blue tinted luminescence from the fountain had changed, a dark maroon instead trying to illuminate the room. I glanced over, staring in shock at my fountain. The water was blood red and bubbling, steam coming up from the depths, the fine mist it produced tinted the color of rage. As I watched, the mist swirled around, before starting to ripple, the way it always did when there was an Iris message waiting.

I frowned and slowly got out of bed, advancing towards the waiting Iris message. I stared at it, glancing down at the fountain and back up to it. What the heck was going on? I slowly reached out, tapping the message and saying "I accept the call."

There was an explosion of flames, and I leapt back, staring wide eyed as flames rushed out of the opened Iris message, smoke starting to fill the room. Something started to emerge from the flames, and I raced forward without thinking, slicing through the image. The message dissolved in a flicker of flames, ashes sprinkling down into the fountain.

I slowly started backing away, trying to get a grasp of what was going on. Then it dawned on me; I had missed lunch, and dinner, times when you were supposed to sacrifice to the gods. One I had missed because I was stuck in a haunted house, the other because I was dealing with a crazy crowd of Nico's. I had practically delivered myself to my Uncle on a silver platter, someone who was always looking for a reason to get rid of me. He had been very specific during our chat earlier, especially when it came to his offerings and what would happen if we didn't give in. I was so screwed.

"I promise I'll sacrifice tomorrow Hades, it was a really bad day. What the heck, I'll give you double, just come on, alright? Give a guy a break?"

That's when the whispers started. Voices echoed through the room, all trying to be heard, but staying as quiet as possible.

" _Run, run while you can!_ "

" _He's coming! He's coming!_ "

" _Hide under the bed, hide in your head, or else you'll be hiding with the dead!_ "

" _He's almost here! Run!"_

Something scraped across the wall beside me, and I whirled around, raising Riptide defensively. Claw marks marred the previously pristine wall. There was a creak behind me, and I whirled around, trying to see something. The temperature plummeted; not the way I made it drop, with the promise of snow and ice. It was the cold of the dead, the underlying threat of mortality ceasing, the cold of the Underworld.

The fountain popped, the liquid exploding out from the fountain, covering the walls and oozing down. That wasn't water. I recognized that coppery smell instantly. Blood. I took a few hesitant steps back, and heard something, like a wet sloshing sound behind me. I spun around. Percy. The word was painted on the wall, the red liquid dripping down the letters. The temperature kept plummeting, and the shadows on the walls started to dance.

I started back up towards the fountain, battle senses on high alert, adrenaline pumping through me so fast I was shaking. And then I back into something, something cold and hard. I jumped and whirled around. A figure made of pure darkness stood, standing a good foot taller than me. They were encased in a suit of pitch black stygian armor, wings of night tore at the sky behind them, and Hades cap on their head, dead fire burning behind the eye holes.

" _ **Perseus…**_ " They groaned.

The helmet seemed to explode, and my fear suddenly sky rocketed, destroying all coherent thought, only my fight or flight response standing its ground. My mind took a split second to take in the muscle packed shadow, the armor, the wings, and the massive sword of death that was sheathed at this things side, before it made its decision. I whirled around and ran like hell, blasting the door off its hinges as I bolted towards the Big House.

I heard the thing charging after me, heard it yelling something. And then the skeletons erupted from the ground in front of me. I screeched to a halt, rocketing to the left as they snatched their gnarled hands at me. More appeared and I dodged by, blasting the ones that came to close with water, trying to project a cold area around me, freezing their joints. My only thoughts right now were to run, and run faster, the fear made it impossible to think or to even try and be brave.

I was running into the forest now, sprinting as hard as I could. I could hear something behind me, I could hear the sound of flapping wings. The woods were utterly silent as I ran, only the sounds of my pursuer and I echoing insanely as I kept going. They were right behind me, their hands grazed the back of my neck as they swiped at me.

I ran straight for Zeus' fist, nimbly hopping up, scraping up my arms and legs as I tried to get to the top. I scrambled up to the peak, and whirled around, out of breath, ready to plunge my sword into the attacker. But they were gone, swallowed by the night. I spun around, sword raised, eyes wide, breathing hard, checking in all directions. After a minute of silence, I leaned forward, bracing myself on my knees and trying to catch my breath. The fear was subsiding, and I glanced back, trying to see camp. The silence was still lingering, but I could see the lights and the people now, going on as though nothing was happening. I stayed put until my breathing started to level out, and stood up.

The temperature plummeted again, and suddenly I just knew the thing was right behind me. Fear again coursed through me, and I slowly turned around, coming face to face with the winged monster. Its sword was drawn this time, souls were circling it, and the color of the world around it seemed to get sucked in until there was nothing but darkness.

My mind flashed to Tartarus, and my heart skipped a beat, pain racking through me. Memories ripped through me, every dark, fearful memory I had ever had in my life, I stumbled back, only to stop at the brink of the summit. I stayed balanced there for a split second, shaking and convulsing, before my breathing stopped and the world started to go back.

My attacker tried to grab me as I fell backwards, grabbed desperately at my hand, saying my name, but it was too late. I fell. I hit my back first, slamming into a few boulders, bounced again, this time landing on my shoulder, which I was almost positive I broke, before finally coming back to the ground, this time landing on my head. More pain than I had felt since the last war erupted through me, and just before the world disappeared, I saw Nico, rushing towards me, face horrified and afraid.

**Tricking the Trickster Part 2**

**Nico POV**

I'm pretty sure I might have just killed my boyfriend. Everything had been going perfectly. Percy had been in bed when I snuck in and started my haunting. He had looked so cute when he angrily promised to hunt down the squirrels as I made the shadows dance across the roof. And then I started with the creaking, slowly walking closer and closer. Percy had ignored it, trying to sleep until suddenly spinning up, Riptide flashing. I had barley dodged the lighting fast blow, and in fact I was pretty sure I lost a portion of my bangs as I vanished into the shadows.

The fountain had been a little harder, and I doubted Poseidon would appreciate me corrupting it. All I had needed was a little talisman from Lou Ellen to 'transform' it into blood, and anther symbol to send in an explosive calling card. It had taken a lot of willpower not to laugh as Percy jumped back. Then there was the whole deal with him trying to bargain with my dad, something about owing him. Maybe that's why dad had been so willing to let me borrow his helmet tonight. I'd have to do some investigating into this later.

Then I had let out the whispers, letting Percy in on the souls I had bribed to help me. That had definitely worked, along with the scratches. Oh, Percy was so going to kill me for this later. And then I had put on helmet, letting the power of the Underworld take over.

I had shown myself in a demonic form, and I'm pretty sure Percy wet himself as he zipped out of there. This time I did laugh, chasing after him through camp. I summoned up some skeletal helpers to corral Percy away from the rest of the camp activities, leading to the forest, and got him to the top of Zeus Fist, before staying back and waiting for just the right moment.

And then I had appeared, pushing the helmet to its limits. It should have been my piece de resistance, the pinnacle of my terror at camp, scaring the living daylights out of the Hero of Olympus. Instead his life force had suddenly flared, and I had watched in confusion and concern as Percy started trembling and convulsing, stumbling backward. For a second he teetered on the brink of the precipice, and I was still too confused to do anything. I stayed confused a second too long.

The battle ended, and Percy leaned back, starting to fall. My fingers missed him by a hairs breadth, and Percy fell, landing multiple times before finally coming to a stop at the bottom. I was at his side in an instant, panicked as I threw away the helmet, grabbing my lover and shadow traveling as fast as I could. The next instant we were by the beach. I picked him up bridal style, carefully cradling him as I rushed to the surf, stumbling and pushing him into the water.

I felt as Percy's life force struggled to stay where it was, his body rejecting itself, blood starting to come out. No, no, no, this couldn't be happening! I pushed him down, submerging the son of Poseidon in the ocean, desperately praying for a miracle. Water always helped, salt water definitely had to do the trick, right? I held him under for a while, knowing that his power would let him breath, focusing instead on the trying to heal his broken body. What had I done?

I tried to focus, trying to reign in Percy's wild spirit, trying to calm it and put it back in its proper place, but it reacted the same way Percy did, wildly trying throwing off my attempts to control it. Another few minutes went by, and suddenly I wasn't wrestling with the spirit anymore, it was gone. The flare in the life force was gone, and I froze, not knowing what had happened.

My sense of death wasn't going off, but Percy wasn't breathing. There wasn't a pulse underneath my fingers as I knelt with him in the water, the waves beating against us over and over again. I felt myself starting to cry, pulling his chest up out of the water and squeezing him tight, burrowing my head into the crook of his shoulders.

"Come on Perce!" I sobbed, shaking him "Come back to me! I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen! Please, come back, come back to me Percy!"

The waves crashed angrily around us, and the wind howled; death was in the air.

"Please, Percy, I'm scared, don't leave me!" I sobbed, staring down at his peacefully closed eyes.

And suddenly a hand was twisting through my hair, and my face was pushed down, my lips smashing up against his. I froze as Percy kissed me, squeezing me tight, before relief and joy swept through me, and I kissed back, urgency taking over as I tried to get as close to my love as possible. When I finally broke away for air, Percy was smiling cockily at me.

"Told you I could scare you." He said happily, entwining our hands.

It took a few seconds for the words to sink in, and my relief and joy instantly turned into rage and anger.

"You jerk! I'm going to kill you Jackson, you have me scared to death! That was so not funny!" I pushed him down into the waves, untangling myself and marching back towards the sand.

Percy laughed, before suddenly appearing in front of me, hands across his chest.

"Oh no, you don't get to be angry with me, you're the one who just tried to kill me. I mean seriously, you scared me to death and pushed me off a thirty foot drop straight to the bottom."

"I didn't push you, you fell on your own! And you had me scared and… and…" I took a few deep breaths, letting my anger go.

Horrible as it was to admit, we were even now, and from his perspective I had been as much of a jerk about this whole thing as he had. And besides, after a fright like that, it really didn't matter who won, I had my Percy back, and he was alright. I sighed, looking up and smiling at my Hero.

"Alright, fairs fair, you got me. But I got you first, so you that only evens us out for this year, your still going to have to try harder to get one up on me. And next time don't kill yourself, it makes you look desperate."

Percy guffawed, jaw dropping.

"What do you mean I have to catch up, this evens us out permanently?"

I just smiled coyly and started walking away. Percy tackled me into the sand, the two of us rolling around. We laughed, wrestling for power, until we came to a stop with me lying beneath him, staring up into those bright sea green eyes of his.

"I got you good." Percy said smiling, shaking his head and giving me an eskimo kiss.

I shadow traveled, pouncing on top of him and rolling around again, until it was me on top and him below.

"Yeah you did. You got the trick Percy. But I got the treat" I kissed his lips, holding him close. "Happy Halloween Percy"

**1 hour later, Percy POV**

So this day hadn't been a total disaster. After a quick make-up session on the beach, we had come back to camp half blood and gotten into costume. In the end, we had met up with the rest of our group, and laughed at our costumes. Jason was of course Superman, now without the glasses, and Piper was Lois Lane. Leo was back in the automaton armor, now painted to look like Iron man, while Frank was now dressed up as Robin Hood with Hazel disguised as a witch doctor or voodoo lady; I'm not sure which.

And apparently Frank and Leo had made up, actually thanking me later, saying that the fight had led to some great make up sex with Hazel. I really didn't press for details. Then there was Reyna and Annabeth, dressed up as River and the Eleventh Doctor, respectively. Annabeth even had on a fez. And finally, there was Nico and I. We had chosen each other's costumes, and in the end, I had ended up a vampire and Nico was a pirate; a very sexy, adorable pirate.

I had basked in my triumph, thankful that Nico kept quiet about the greater details of how he scared me in the first place, passing around the candy, happy to have everything finally be over. This had been a great Halloween, chances of death and all. Leo tried to swipe some of Nico's candy, only for Nico to swat him away with his sword, yelling "Argh!"

We had all burst out laughing, and Nico had smiled, snuggling into the crook of my arm.

"It's good to have a real family." He murmured, leaning up against me.

"You've always had one Neeks. Even when we were too stupid to let you know." Nico rolled his eyes and Annabeth walked over, showing off her custom designed sonic screwdriver. When I was finally done, I glanced back, only to growl as I saw Will Solace, probably ironically dressed as a doctor, leaning up against a light pole, happily chatting with Nico.

After the war, the dude had been a serious issue, wanting to spend all his time with Nico. If I hadn't asked him out when I did, I was pretty sure the douchebag would have stolen Nico right from under my nose. I marched over, trying act happy, wrapping my arms around my pirate. Alright, so maybe Nico wasn't the only possessive, jealous one in this relationship.

"Hey Will!" I said, smiling cheerfully.

Will smiled back, somehow completely oblivious to my hate.

"Hey Percy. Happy Halloween! Nico and I were just chatting about our costumes. Great vampire by the way dude." I nodded distractedly, glancing down at Nico. Nico didn't have a problem storming in when he was jealous, but honestly with Will, it was kind of hard to be mean to him. Unless he did something stupid. Which he luckily did.

"But yeah, if you ever want to swing by and try something really sweet, don't hesitate, okay?" He said with a wink.

It turns out, when I really want to, I can be extremely scary. The temperature plummeted again, and I'm pretty sure the water around us started bubbling as I glared at him. The poor guy took a step back, eyes wide, before giving off a frightened, nervous laugh.

"So yeah, um, I just remembered I have to go, some people got sick after eating candy, so yeah… Bye Nico!"

When Will Solace was a good distance away, the temperature settled down and the water returned to its normal state.

Nico glanced up at me and gave me a cheeky smile. "You and Will. What's so wrong with him?"

"Nothings wrong with him." I said, sitting down beside Nico.

Nico raised an eyebrow, unbelieving.

"Oh really? In that case I think I'll go stop bye, he was just telling me about all the candy he has stored up at the infirmary." Nico stood up, only for me to grab his waist and pull him back into my lap, wrapping my arms around him protectively.

"Alright, I have a problem with him. He scares me."

Nico turned around on my lap, giving me a surprised look.

"Will Solace, son of Apollo, one of the most mellow people I know, scare you, two time Hero of Olympus, slayer of titans and armies, survivor of Tartarus, and survivor of me? How does he scare you?"

I shrugged, looking away. "I really don't wanna talk about it."

Nico frowned, bringing a hand to my cheek and leaning back.

"Hey." He said gently, forcing me to look at him.

"You listen to everything I dish out and more. It's my turn. Let it out, you'll feel better."

I sighed, before explaining.

"It was right after the war ended, you and I were finally okay with each other, the whole Annabeth thing was taken care of, and I was trying to work up the nerve to ask you out."

Nico nodded.

"Well, the night before, I had this nightmare. I was back with Annabeth, it was like we had never split up in the first place, even though we were still full of Tartarus' poison. And then all of the sudden you came up. We hadn't fixed things, we never talked like we did here, and we never worked out our issues. You admitted you had a crush on me, and that you were over it, that I wasn't your type. And then you just walked away, right over to a waiting Will Solace. I know it's stupid, but that nightmare scared me almost more than everything that's happened tonight. It's why I really wanted to talk to you that day and why I kissed you that soon, I was afraid I was going to lose you forever if I did. And when you said you liked me, I didn't want to risk it. Because, to be honest, it hurt seeing you with him. And I don't know, just seeing you with him, it just makes me-"

I was cut off as a pair of lips caught mine, silencing me, sending waves of comfort and love through me. Nico held me tightly, before pulling away.

"Will is a great guy. And to be honest too, I could see myself with him. But maybe in another world, another life, not this one. You want to know why?"

I nodded.

"Because I have you Perce. Because I have never stopped loving you, and even though its hurt getting here, it's been worth it, because now I have something that makes all the pain go away, something that makes all the struggles worth it. Because I have you Perce. I love you."

"I love you too Nico. Forever and always."

Nico smiled, before removing the small space between our lips.

"Always and forever." He whispered.

And then he gave me a kiss sweeter than any candy could ever be. Nico had been right, that had made me feel a lot better. This had been the best Halloween ever.

* * *

**Fluff ending but who cares, Happy Halloween! Hope you guys have fun, and enjoyed the story! Please read, review, comment, or critique, and have a fantastic morning/day/night! Check my other stories if you enjoyed!**


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